


nested

by armethaumaturgy



Series: seawards [3]
Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Alternate Universe - The Little Mermaid Fusion, Fluff, M/M, human/merman courting, merman mikleo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-28
Updated: 2017-05-28
Packaged: 2018-11-05 21:30:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,965
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11021979
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/armethaumaturgy/pseuds/armethaumaturgy
Summary: "Why would you need those, Sorey? Surely you can't be building a ne--"Lailah stops, cutting herself off as if she'd seen a shark. Or figured out what Sorey is up to. Her fins flatten against her body and then flare out, disturbing the water.Sorey is sure his face is as red as her scales by now, but he refrains from disagreeing.





	nested

**Author's Note:**

> idiots in love

The sea is restless; waves lap at the beach sands, foam sticking around the darkened ground. Sorey's boat bobs to and fro along with the waves, its rope tugging the wood.

Sorey shifts nervously, curling his toes in the cold sand. Mikleo pops up, breaking the surface. His hair flips in a spray of droplets, sticking to the merman's skin. He swims as close as he can without getting stranded on the beach and waves at Sorey.

Sorey's heart flutters in his chest; he hesitates a second, then walks over to the boat and unties it. Salt wind blows into his face as he pushes the boat, getting in as soon as the water reaches his chest. Mikleo rounds the boat and pushes it, letting Sorey relax in the softly rocking vessel without rowing.

When they arrive above the underwater village, Sorey lowers the anchor and hands the rope to Mikleo, who disappears under the surface with it with a small smile.

Sorey shucks off his shirt and hops into the water after him, the chilling water biting into his skin. Salt stings his eyes until they get used to it. The sea is darker with the currents above, but Mikleo is right there, leading him down, down, down.

They swim between the decorated cave-houses and Sorey stops for a moment. Mikleo goes on ahead, disappearing to his house behind a flock of green-tinted fish.

Instead of following him, Sorey waves at the few merpeople talking in the streets. The fiery-scaled one -- Lailah -- notices him first, and swims over, her hair like clouds as it sways with he movements.

"Hello, Sorey," she greets him, "Do you need anything?"

Blood rushes up to Sorey's face and it has nothing to do with the lack of breath. Thankfully, the water masks the redness pretty well. His fingers stutter, and then he signs, 'I need to talk to you. Need help.'

Lailah's brows furrow with concern at his brewity, but then he turns and swims towards the air bubble, his breath almost gone, and she understands and follows after him.

Sorey breaks the surface with a loud gasp, taking in the much needed oxygen. Lailah isn't far behind, popping up with her hair no longer voluminous and flowing, but slickly sticking to her face and shoulders, her ear fins twitching as she looks at the boy.

"Did something happen, Sorey?" she speaks up as he pulls himself up onto the rock, flicking water everywhere as he does so.

He turns back to her, heart hammering. She can definitely see the redness in his cheeks now that they're out of the water.

"I-- was…" he stammers, flushing more. He'd meant to be inconspicuous about this. So much for that. "I wanted to know… if you knew about any places near the shore that have pretty corals?"

"Eh?" Lailah drawls, "Did you decide to go vegetarian? Corals don't taste very good… Why would you need those, Sorey? Surely you can't be building a ne--"

Lailah stops, cutting herself off as if she'd seen a shark. Or figured out what Sorey is up to. Her fins flatten against her body and then flare out, disturbing the water.

Sorey is sure his face is as red as her scales by now, but he refrains from disagreeing.

"Sorey!" she exclaims, almost lighting up, her smile spanning her whole face. "You know those rocks at the end of the beach, where the cliff is, right?"

Sorey nods, only making Lailah's smile wider, if that's even possible at this point.

"If you dive there, just right of the rocks-- there's beautiful coral there," she tells him, and Sorey's heart flutters in his chest again (just like a speared fish, when he imagines it). "Try going in the early morning, that's when they are the prettiest."

Sorey blinks. "I thought corals always looked the same?"

Lailah does momentarily look like he'd caught her upturning shells, but she hides it with a smirk fairly quickly. "Trust a fish!" she says.

"Okay," Sorey nods again. She knows more about the sea life than him, after all. "Thank you, Lailah!"

Lailah smiles at him, letting out a small giggle. She circles the surface once, twice, and then disappears beneath it with an excited splash.

Sorey smacks his cheeks in hopes of putting off the blush. He hopes it works at least a little.

* * *

Clutching the shells in his hand, Mikleo leaves his home. It took him just a little too long to pick the shiniest and most suited ones from the pile he'd collected.

He runs into Lailah and Edna on the way to the cove, the red mermaid pulling along the brown one as per usual. Lailah giggles when they pass him, and even Edna gives him an odd look, though he's spared the usual remark or two. The disappear behind one of the numerous, coral-coated rocks, their tails flicking.

A striped fish rubs against his hip and prods at his hand, trying its hardest to get to the clam shells he's holding, thinking there's still food in them. Mikleo yanks his hand out of its reach, shooing it away.

That's when he realizes he's standing in the middle of the street, and swings his tails to propel himself forward. He ducks into the crevice and breaks the surface into the air bubble.

"Hey, Sorey."

"Took your time," Sorey huffs, pretending to be annoyed. On the contrary, he looks relaxed, sitting by the cove wall. His hair is half dried and sticking out in weird angles, some strands still clumped together with the water. Mikleo _might_ be staring.

Not that he doesn't see Sorey every day, but there are times when it hits him how pretty the human is, how beautiful of a shade his sun-kissed skin is, how his hair does whatever it wants in the water.

If he were a merman, Mikleo is so sure that he'd have the prettiest, most shimmering scales that he would bet his fins on it. They would be creamy, and go well with the orang tones of his fins. His tail would be powerful, strong enough to knock away anyone with just a flick.

Mikleo catches himself when the thoughts spiral into imagining what it would feel like to wrap his tail around it, twirl until they were so tangled that their bodies would be flush together. It's a fruitless thought; Mikleo only feels a little sad that he will never experience such a dance.

Maybe it'd feel like when they sleep together, and Sorey wraps his legs around his tail unconsciously, when he squeezes just a little, digs his knees into the scaled flesh. That's nice. Mikleo never tires of that small, mindless show of affection.

"I got you something," Mikleo forces out, tongue feeling like it isn't a part of him. His tail flicks left and right underwater. It feels warm.

Sorey perks up, leaning over the edge of the rock. "What is it, what is it?"

Mikleo's lips curl up and he reaches forward with his free hand. He yanks at Sorey's wrist, making him lose his balance at topple over into the water.

"It's salt!" he laughs.

Sorey yelps as he's submerged, and when he comes back up, he's pouting, eyes narrowed at the merman. "You!" he exclaims, pushing his bangs out of his eyes, "I'll get you for that!"

The boy lunges himself at Mikleo, clinging to him and raking his fingers down to the merman's more numerous ribs. He jabs between them and Mikleo tenses up, flailing beneath him with a high-pitched, cut-off yelp. He fights with Sorey to let him go, but Sorey doesn't let up, tickling his sensitive spots with vigor. Damn him for knowing them all.

It takes long, breathless minutes of wrestling to get him to stop. Sorey doesn't end up unscathed, holding his side and the rock with one hand each. They both catch their breath, Mikleo's gills flaring wildly yet uselessly, complementing Sorey's heaving chest.

Mikleo's eyes go wide when he finally notices his hand is empty; he must've dropped the shells during the tickle fight. "Oh no," he mutters, diving and immediately going for the sea floor, scouting it with his wide eyes. In the mountains of live and abandoned shells, finding his is a tricky quest.

Finally, though, he finds them, half-buried under the sand he himself stirred up. He scrambles to get them out, looking them over to make sure no fish have damaged them during the descent.

A weight lifts off his chest that he didn't even know had been there; the shells aren't hurt at all. He holds them to his chest and comes back up to Sorey, who had been watching him scramble along the sand from afar.

"Mikleo?" he questions confusedly.

"I dropped them while you were tickling me," Mikleo explains, sending Sorey a glare. The boy has the mind to appear at least a little ashamed, though he's still smiling. "But-- um, these are for you. You said your spoons were battered, so I… went looking for good shells to replace them with."

Mikleo bobs before the rock, holding the shiny shells out. Sorey takes them, flipping them over on his palm to appreciate their pearly surface. They're the perfect size, and neither is ridged.

"It must've taken a while," he says, turning his wonder-filled eyes back to the merman. "Thank you, Mikleo!"

Mikleo flushes anew, tail curling in on itself. "It's not a big deal," he lies.

A merperson giving another shells is seen as an act of courtship, of asking about their feelings. With a merperson and a human, however, Mikleo doesn't know what it means.

He'd been giving shells to Sorey since they'd been kids and Sorey's lungs too small to allow him to get to the sea floor and look for some himself. Plus he'd always been so excited to get them.

Even now, he still has a collection of all the shells Mikleo had gifted him, much to the merman's chagrin. It's stashed far too high for him to do anything about, though.

Sorey reaches for him again, but instead of Mikleo pulling him into the water, he lets the human embrace him. Sorey's arms are strong where they circle his shoulders and squeeze.

"You're the best, Mikleo!" Sorey exclaims with complete sincerity right into his twitching ear.

Mikleo hopes he can't hear his wild heart.

_Sorey is a human,_ Mikleo reminds himself as a mixture of happiness and guilt swirl in the pit of his stomach.

_Sorey is a human._

* * *

An insistent frown tugs at Sorey's lips. He circles his creation again, observing it with a critical eye. It had taken him the bigger part of the day.

In the morning, just like Lailah instructed him to, he'd gone to the rocks, and, just as she'd said, the corals there were plentiful and diverse, almost out of place as they peeled off the rocks with ease. It took him a few dives to pull enough to the shore, and a few trips to take them all to his hut.

By ten, it'd been almost noon, and his stomach insisted to be filled.

So, after devouring a fish he'd caught the previous day, he had finally started working on the actual nest. Not that he knew how a nest is supposed to look (the closest he'd ever gotten to a description was when Gramps told him it's supposed to be a place to relax together). Only armed with that knowledge, he had to take some liberties.

He'd arranged the coral into a bird's nest shape at the edge of the wall, close enough to the pond that Mikleo could submerge his tail at any moment, or slip into the water altogether.

He had to move all his things from there to the opposite wall, and even so, it felt a little cramped inside now. Well, he'd never expected to be housing a nest when he'd built the hut.

He'd lemmed the inside of the nest with soft seaweed to make it more comfortable. Then he'd taken the wooden box on the top shelf and started arranging shells along the edge furthest from the water. Some of them fit with the corals perfectly, some of them he had kept moving and turning, uncertain where their beauty would stand out the most. That had taken toughly… all day, judging from the setting sun on the horizon.

He still isn't sure he likes how it comes out. He doesn't know what usual nests look like -- what if his isn't adequate? What if he'd made it completely wrong?

The worry eats away at him, since Mikleo only deserves the best. He rearranges the shells for the umpteenth time. He even adds another layer of soft seaweed, laying the strips over the pond edge. It still doesn't look right to him.

He just comes to the conclusion that he could do much better, and should ask Gramps for tips, when Mikleo pops out of the pond unexpectedly.

"Hey, Sorey," he greets, smiling as warmly as the setting sun.

"Mikleo!" Sorey exclaims, freezing up. It takes him a moment to recollect himself, and when he does, he tries to think up a way for the merman not to see his attempted nest. He'd stand between the two, but that would only end with him falling into the water. "You can't be here! G-Go away!"

Mikleo makes a confused noise, something between a while and a click -- something only merpeople can produce, and something Sorey has come to associate with the times Mikleo is baffled by something.

"What's wrong, Sorey?" he asks, gripping the edge and pulling himself upwards to take a better look at the human. His brows furrow with concern. "Did something ha--"

Sorey can see the exact moment when Mikleo's eyes fall from him onto the nest and comprehend what it is; he freezes, letting go of the edge and bobbing in the water, blinking as he looks at the mess of corals.

Sorey wants the ground to open up and swallow him whole where he stands.

"Sorey, did you build a nest?" Mikleo asks, his ear fins flattening against his head.

"I--I mean-- Yeah?" Sorey shifts, rubbing the nape of his neck nervously. His chuckle doesn't sound very natural even to himself. "I know it's not very great, but I-- uh, spent the whole day on it. I tried to make it as pretty as I could 'cause you deserve the best, but I don't know what they're supposed to look like, so I was going to ask Gramps about it and rebuild it to be better… I didn't think you'd come here out of nowhere…"

Sorey trails off, shoulders slumping as he looks at the nest. He opens his mouth to apologize, maybe ask Mikleo to forget, to pretend, this exchange ever happened, just say something, _anything_ -! but Mikleo beats him to it.

"You built a nest… for me?" He sounds genuinely confused as if the mere thought never crossed his mind. His fins splay out, twitching in an obvious gesture of excitement.

Sorey rubs at his arm; he can't look Mikleo in the eye, for once. "Yeah."

"Sorey," Mikleo breathes out.

Sorey's lips purse. "Sorry, I just-- I thought--"

He doesn't get a chance to finish the fragmented apology; Mikleo lunges  out of the water and straight on top of him. They end up sprawled in the nest (the extra layer of seaweed he'd put on before really made it soft).

Mikleo curls up around him, in all senses. His arms come around Sorey's waist and his tail twists around his legs, squeezing them tightly with his powerful muscles. It hurts a little, but the proximity stops Sorey from complaining. Or any speech, honestly.

"I-- You--" Mikleo stammers, holding him close and hiding his face in the crook of Sorey's neck. His fins are tickling the human's face where they twitch. "You know what it-- means though, right?"

Sorey senses the uncertainty in Mikleo's voice, and his own nervousness mirrors it when he replies. "It's telling someone you want to be with them your whole life."

The words Gramps told them when he had explained mating resonate between them. Sorey rubs his fingers along Mikleo's back fin. "Mikleo, we've been together since I can remember, and I want to keep it forever. I'm not a merman, I know, but…"

Their faces hover inches apart -- finally, Sorey holds Mikleo's gaze. Worry creases his brow, but both his eyes and smile are soft. One of his hands moves up to run along Mikleo's cheek, thumb pushing his wet hair behind his ear, gently touching the fin on the way back to his cheek. The gold of his circlet peeks from beneath the bangs, but Sorey focuses on Mikleo's expression instead, on his slightly parted lips, jagged teeth poking through them, his wide purple eyes, so much prettier than any flower of coral.

"I love you, Mikleo," he breathes finally, forcing the words past the lump in his throat. "I always have."

Mikleo's lips melt into a shaky smile, his eyes filling up with tear, making them appear even glossier than usual. He makes another inhuman noise, a choked sob of some sort. Sorey had never heart that one before. Tears pour down Mikleo's cheeks, only a few fat ones at first, but the droplets soon become rivulets. The merman holds onto him as if a lifeline, gills working frantically as he sobs.

"Me too!" he cries out, his voice bouncing off the walls. "Me too, Sorey! I love you, I love you!" he repeats, over and over.

Sorey chuckles, his own vision blurring with tears. Soon enough, both of them are laughing breathlessly, wiping at their faces to get rid of the salty tear streaks (Mikleo more so, unused to the feeling of tears clinging to him instead of getting swept away with the water).

"Sorey," Mikleo pipes up after a while, when they're both calmed down. The feeling of his breath fanning across Sorey's neck is something he'd never thought he'd love as much as he does.

Mikleo is breathing with his nose because of _him_.

"I love this nest," Mikleo continues, puling Sorey out of his thoughts. "But I need to take a dip, my tail is getting itchy."

Delicately, Mikleo unwinds himself from around the boy, pushing himself up onto his arms. Sorey scoots up to sit at the edge of the nest, the coral digging into his lower back the tiniest amount.

"Sorey…" His name sounds so nice on the merman's tongue, he never tires of hearing it.

"Can I kiss you?" Sorey blurts out, only realizing it moments later. His face heats up, blush dusting his cheeks and even ears. It makes his earrings stand out all that much more.

Instead of trying to articulate an answer, Mikleo reaches up and takes Sorey's hand into his, lacing their fingers as much as his webs allow. He pulls, softly this time, and Sorey promptly leans forward.

The merman closes his eyes and presses their lips together, bracing his hand on Sorey's thigh instead of the nest. Sorey's lips are as soft as the rest of him, if not even softer. Mikleo can't help but push forward, to get as much of those plush lips against his.

He reopens his eyes when he feels Sorey's hand against his cheek again, brushing along the curve there, and immediately loses his breath in a rush of a gasp.

Sorey looks at him as if he'd personally calmed the raging waves of the sea, as if he'd cleared the skies and put the twinkling stars onto it.

"I love you," Mikleo whispers into the air between them, their lips still brushing together. The itchiness of his tail is almost forgotten with the warmth that floods his chest.

Is this what butterflies feel like? It has to be.

* * *

This is ridiculous.

Sorey said he loved him, he said it and they kissed! Sorey had built him a nest, for Poseidon's sake!

And yet here he is, nervous to give him fish. It's not even like it's the first time -- Mikleo catches food for Sorey whenever he's too busy or tired.

But it feels different this time. He'd swam all the way to the heart of the sea where the tastiest and biggest fish live, just to get the best ones. It feels different because the merfolk tradition of offering food as a sign of courtship is suddenly real. It's no longer just him and Sorey -- well, yes, it is, but it's different now! -- now it carries a meaning it didn't before.

He's sure Sorey doesn't even know about that tradition. They'd shared food since Mikleo was too small to wear his circlet. So he feel just a little silly for the irrational nervousness making his heart beat a mile per hour, but he can't help it.

He pulls the fish along; they are big, almost as long as his arm, but it looks like Mikleo doesn't even have to strain himself to carry them. He'd met Lailah on his way to the shore. She gave him a sly smirk, as if she knew why he was carrying a pair of the most delicious fish in the sea. He'd done his best to ignore it, but he couldn't quite shake off the memory of asking her where those fish live, years ago.

She had coddled Edna into showing him, and the first time he'd ever eaten one was accompanied by her snide remarks about his sloppy hunting skills.

Well, he'd gotten better over the years. The fish he's holding both have clean slices along the gills. Up yours, Edna.

Reminding himself nothing is different than it had been a week prior, Mikleo breaches the surface. The sun is high in the sky and pleasantly warm on his skin. Sorey is on the beach, a fire burning in a pit a ways from the lapping sea waves.

Mikleo rides one of the bigger waves, letting it wash him up as close to Sorey as it would. The rest of the way he crawls, though it's hard with the fish he's holding. Thankfully, Sorey comes to his aid, helping him make himself comfortable on the log by the fire.

"Hey. Um--" Mikleo says, holding one of the fish out for Sorey. "I got you --I mean, us-- some fish?"

Sorey's mouth opens into a perfect 'o' and he delicately takes the fish from Mikleo. "What is this? I've never seen this fish before!" he asks, astounded, as he pokes at the fish's scales.

"It's a redfish. They live far out in the sea," the merman explains.

"A redfish…" Sorey echoes, "It doesn't look very red."

He is, of course, right. The fish's scales are golden, shimmering in the sunlight. But Sorey hadn't seen them underwater, where the broken lighting and water dye their scales blood red.

"That's a little rude. What if it could still hear you?"

Sorey giggles and all Mikleo can think of is the stream of bubbles that always emerges when he does the same thing underwater. But like this, he can actually hear the sweet sounds (and not worry about him drowning, as he always does).

It's a win situation for him either way.

"I thought we could enjoy them together. I don't usually go out into the far sea like this," Mikleo admits, finally, red coloring his cheeks.

"Don't we always enjoy food together?" Sorey smiles and Mikleo's shoulders automatically slumps, the tension he didn't even know had been in him ebbing away.

"Yeah…"

_That's right._

It's still them, even if they kiss a few (or a bunch) times while Sorey guts and cooks the fish.

**Author's Note:**

> edit: the lovely, lovely [Nami](http://defragmentise.tumblr.com/) has drawn a scene from this fic! you can see it [here!](http://defragmentise.tumblr.com/post/161196814300)


End file.
